FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to the covering of the cargo area of an open topped vehicle bed and specifically to having an organized and easily accessible tool and/or storage container, a means of securing both, and means for quickly attaching and detaching said storage container, thus allowing complete cargo area to be available for recreational use.
Pick up covers, also called toppers and campers in the industry, but consistently referred to as covers in this application, have been used for camping and by contractors in the construction profession for some time. Said covers in conjunction with open topped vehicles form a cargo area that can carry cargo that is protected from the weather elements and said cargo is secured by means of latches.
Across-the-bed tool and/or storage containers for pick up trucks have also been in use for some time. The terminology across-the-bed tool and/or storage container refers to a tool and/or storage container that is mounted transverse the longitudinal axis of an open topped vehicle and is supported by both of said vehicle's sidewalls thus leaving the tool and/or storage container accessible from either side of said vehicle's exterior. These said tool and/or storage containers mount with the bottom being in a position several inches below the pick up bed sidewalls, access from the top, and rest on the sidewalls of said vehicle, leaving it impractical to try to use said tool and/or storage containers with covers as this would prevent the doors from opening enough to put in or remove objects and would require crawling into the cover. Since these said tool and/or storage containers need to be used without a cover it leaves cargo in the vehicle exposed to the weather elements and unsecured. There are some heavy duty truck beds with side mounted tool boxes available at this time. Some of these also have a means of covering the remaining cargo area. These are quite expensive and do not give a pick up the design appearance that a cover does, thus explaining why these and other side mount type storage boxes with a means of covering the cargo area have not met with widespread commercial acceptance. Instead, across the country contractors continue to use either a pick up cover or an across-the-bed tool and/or storage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,305 to McNeely discloses a cargo compartment organizer which covers the cargo area of a pick up bed. This type of cargo area cover leaves only about one half of the usable, protected cargo area of a standard cover. McNeely's cover also leaves it very difficult to enter the cargo area to retrieve smaller materials that may be near the cab of the pick up.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,381 to Tamblyn and Forde is one of several retractable pick up bed covers that are patented at this time. These said retractable covers, cover only about one half of the cargo space of standard covers. There is an across-the-bed storage container on the market designed for use with these said retractable bed covers. The design of the said retractable bed covers demand that such tool and/or storage containers mount above said retractable bed covers thus leaving a very small tool area.